Have you been looking at all the bikepacking and gravel cycling stories, dreaming of adventure? Have you been searching for your dream gravel bike but worried you would never be able to afford the high-end bike of your dreams?
Well ICAN with their new gravel flat mount frame has brought you the goods at a price your bank manager will be very happy about.
One look at the carbon fibre frame and you will fall in love with it, and after a ride, you will never look back, except to take a second look at the places you have just gone passed.
The AC388 frame highlights
- Flat mount brake mounts
- Toray T700 carbon fibre construction
- Can take up to 38mm wide tyres
- 12x100mm front thru axle
- 12x142mm rear thru axle
- BB86 bottom bracket
- 2 year warranty
Lightweight frameset
With the frame being made from Toray T700 carbon fibre you can be sure that you are buying a quality lightweight frameset. The frame itself weighs only 1050g in a 53cm size.
This means you will be able to fly up gravel climbs and have no worries if you have the bike loaded with bikepacking gear, this is the frame to make Transcontinental adventures as light as possible.
As with all the bicycle frames that ICAN build there has been much thought put into the frame design.
This can be seen in the frame’s internal cable routing, with beautiful, clean entry and exit ports located at the front and rear of the bike. The top tube of the frame is a nicely flattened shape and not round.
The reason for a flattened top tube is that it helps to kill various road/ground vibrations, helping to make the frame very comfortable as well as fast and during gravel/off-road sections; your body will love that.
This top tube is mated to the 27.2 mm Seatpost size meaning that this bike will be comfortable whether you are doing a 1-hour dash through a wet, muddy field, a long Sunday ride out with the local chain gang during summer or crossing continents with a tent on your back.
While we are thinking about wet, muddy fields, the AC388 frame also comes with BB86 bottom bracket shell. This is rapidly becoming the pressfit bottom bracket size to use.
Helping to maximize utility and allowing a really stiff bottom bracket shell and crank interface, allowing all your pedal effort to be translated into forwarding momentum.
Geometry
The frame itself also features a much more modern geometry than many of its Chinese rivals. With a comfortable stack height and an easy reach, this is a frame that you will be able to spend hours riding.
Like many adventure bikes, such as the Salsa Warbird, this frame also has a sensible bottom bracket drop, minimising the risk of pedal strike during offroad sections.
With a comfortable all day in the saddle geometry that the ICAN has, you will begin to realize that you no longer must be in physical pain to get many miles in, more miles, more smiles.
The ICAN AC388 frame though does have slightly shorter chainstays than the Salsa. Meaning that despite having a geometry that will have you sitting up somewhat more than the on the Salsa, the ICAN should still react happily when you decide to lay the power down.
It should also help mean that less of your pedal stroke power will have dissipated by the time it reaches the rear wheel, helping you a lot on long grinding climbs.
There is also the fact that, unlike many brands, the ICAN goes down into a sub 50 cm size, this is great if you are on the small side. Having a great bike that can fit you like a glove is a pleasure that we all need in life, and the ranges of ICAN offers you can be sure that there will be a size for you.
Comfort
Hitting out on a carbon frame with 38mm wide tyres you can be sure of comfort and speed in equal measures. The T700 carbon fibres are woven into a shape that is compliant and still stiff where you need it. Look at the beautiful way the headtube is tapered; it is a work of art albeit a work of art that is highly functional.
Just looking at it you can see that it is stiff and the way it tapers into the ICAN carbon fork you can be sure that there will be no loss of control due to a less than the stiff frontend. The cable routing on the fork is yet again another work of aesthetic joy, never again will you need to compromise between looks and function when ICAN have both covered for you.
By running 12 x 100mm thru axles on the front and 12 x 142mm thru axles rear of the bike, you can make sure that your wheels have no reason to squirm away from you. The stiffness of this connection is far superior to that of traditional quick release style axles, your front wheel will go exactly where you point it.
With both of these standards you will be able to fit 29” mountain bike wheels in your frame and fork, allowing you to build a bombproof bike. There is also the nice safety aspect that thru axles will mean that your flat mount disc brakes will work as well as they possibly can.
Coupling this carbon fibre gravel frame with wider tyres and you will not believe how quickly you can stop. The ability to stop suddenly is not to be taken lightly when riding off-road where the ability to stop can be genuinely life or death.
You will never want Cantilever or side pull brakes again after riding the new generation of road bike disc brakes.
As you can see the ICAN AC388 is a fantastic carbon fibre gravel frame, that is designed to make sure that your time on the bike is equally amazing. You can have an excellent lightweight frame for a low price, leaving you with a lot more money to spend on creating these fantastic times rather than paying for a frame with a big sticker on the downtube.
The biggest strain on your time will be all your riding friends asking you for a ride on your bike or where to buy one.
